Getting Your iPhone Fixed Is Not An Invitation To Be Sexually Harassed

Sure, an employee might flirt with customers here and there, and maybe ask one out on occasion. When someone isn’t interested, though, it’s time to drop the matter. And when they remind you more than once that they’re under age, it’s really time to drop it. Such subtleties were not obvious to a 33-year-old AT&T store worker who wouldn’t stop texting a 16-year-old who came in one day to get his iPhone fixed.

The unwanted attention went on for three months, until the family turned the phone over to police. That’s when the employee sent the teen a mostly-nude picture (except for a bow tie and socks) and made a date to pick him up after school. Instead, the police were there to hook up, and the store employee has now been charged with online solicitation and traveling to meet a minor for a sex act.

The unwanted attention began during the phone repair, when the employee allegedly discussed the phone and asked the teen questions about sex. Unfortunately, then he had his phone number, and conversations continued even after repeated reminders that the boy was underage. The employee offered him an allowance and said that he wanted to date the teen, stating his desire to kiss and have sex with him. After three months of texts, the teen’s family gave control of the phone to police.

When caught, the store employee told police that he feared he was on an episode of Dateline NBC’s “To Catch a Predator.”

A reminder to any teens and/or reticent people reading: this kind of behavior is not okay, and ignoring the perpetrators doesn’t always make them get bored and leave you alone.